A fascinating study of the reception and meaning of popular music in the wake of large-scale political and economic upheaval, Delia Pamela Fuentes Korban’s Memory and History in Argentine Popular Music shows how diverse groups of listeners use music to remember and make sense of their individual and collective lives. Theorizing popular music as a polyvalent ‘place of memory’ and locating her discussion in the details of Argentine culture, politics, and history in the years straddling the devastating economic crisis of December, 2001, Fuentes Korban both updates and expands the scope of memory studies in Argentina in compelling and productive ways.

Morgan Luker, Reed College

Memory and History in Argentine Popular Music forms a much-needed update and expansion of earlier studies. Where Vila and others told the story of the Argentine people in the authoritarian ‘70s and ‘80s, Memory and History carries that work forward todocument the history of the country though the social genocide of the neoliberal ‘90s. Furthermore, Fuentes Korban’s thorough ethnographic interviews and insightful analysis of lyrics of tango, rock chabón and cumbia villera reveal that era’s canciones con historia as repositories of collective memory that help make sense of the Argentine experience.

Timothy Wilson, Blackburn College